As a young man, I remember the Egyptian revolution of 1952, which overturned the monarchy of King Farouk and led to the installation of a short-lived government under President Mohammed Naguib. In 1953, Gamal Abdel Nasser deposed the new president and became the President of Egypt. He was instrumental in the British withdrawal from the Suez Canal. He ruled Egypt with an iron rod and suppressed the Muslim Brotherhood, knowing the danger that they posed to the Egyptian economy. He established a Marxist Democracy in Egypt.The Suez Canal was built and operated by the British and the French. After their ouster, they tried to use military power to take it back. But then, American President Dwight Eisenhower forced Israel, the United Kingdom and France to end their invasion of Egypt during the Suez Crisis of 1956.After the death of Abdel Nasser, his vice president, Anwar Sadat, became the President of Egypt. Being amember of the Muslim Brotherhood, he also controlled them with a rod of iron. After Sadat’s death, HosniMubarak became a member of the Muslim Brotherhood in order to rule Egypt. He also controlled the MuslimBrotherhood with a rod of iron for over 30 years.

All three of these presidents were dictators. Two years ago, the U.S. decided to establish democracy in Egypt, and Egypt installed the first democratically elected president, Mohammed Morsi, a leader of the Muslim Brotherhood. After six months of taking office, it became obvious that he was a religious dictator and tried to turn Egypt into a Muslim nation, like Iran, controlled by Sharia law.But not all Muslims wanted this kind of rule, which is why the military took over and is attempting toestablish control over the country and prevent Muslims from fighting Muslims. Calm has settled in Egypt inthe last couple of days after a forceful crackdown by the military, but the future remains uncertain. Now, theminority Christians in Egypt feel safer because there are three members of Parliament who are Christians. Thiscomes after months of terrorist attacks on Christian churches and personal Christian properties.All eyes are on the Middle East, and Egypt in particular. As we all know, Egypt plays an important part in Bible prophecy. We need to continue to pray for Egypt, that this new government will be a true democracy. But I know that Islam will not accept a democracy based on Western criteria. We need a real Holy Spirit visitation on Egypt.

“The people shall dwell alone and shall not be reckoned among the nations.” - Numbers 23:9bWho wishes to live among the people and be counted among the nations? The Christian church finds it difficult to live separately from the world. We are surrounded by the world in every aspect of our lives, which sometimes makes us yearn to be alone. The Lord would like to lead his people on a path of separation from the world. We become different from the world through God’s plan of purchasing us through salvation. His glorious calling, along with our inner experience, gives us the assurance that we are different.We do not dwell in the presence of the ungodly or in the city of destruction, but through tribulation, we as Christians travel towards Canna. When the people of the world mock us, we are comforted and we accept it with joy, because we know that nothing can separate us from God’s blessing and our covenant with Him.

We are not a result of the planted seed of this world. They cannot partake of the fruit of our labor. We live in this world, but are not tied to it. We live under the law of their land but we are not like them.Therefore it is good not to be of them but only live among them as strangers. Even though they call us fanatics we will dwell alone and not be reckoned among the nations.

Dr. Elias Malki

Elias ministered to the people of the Middle East for 62 years. The Good News Program has been airing for 33 years. He established a Bible school in Lebanon and traveled extensively in the entire region ministering the Gospel. Thousands of Middle Eastern people, from the seed of Abraham – Jews and Arabs – have been healed and received Jesus as their Savior.